


Welcome to the Pink Parade

by Ardene



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canada, Alternate Universe - Retail, Gay Disaster Shiro (Voltron), Idiots in Love, M/M, Shopping Malls, hot topic/sanrio store au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-03-01 07:28:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18795751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ardene/pseuds/Ardene
Summary: He worked in Hot Topic, he worked in Sanrio. Can I make it any more obvious?A story of two idiots falling in love, inspired by the picture of the Hot Topic and Sanrio store right beside each other.





	Welcome to the Pink Parade

**Author's Note:**

  * For [maliciouslycreative](https://archiveofourown.org/users/maliciouslycreative/gifts).



Shiro looked down at the poutine on the table in front of him. Or rather, he was staring intently at it in order to not be looking at anything else.

_Focus, Shiro._

Look at those soft and crispy fries. That gravy. Those melting cheese curds. Look. At. Them.

He couldn’t. His head lifted up while his eyes still made a valiant effort at looking down, but it was no use. Standing across the food court, in the line of the very New York Fries he had bought his food at mere minutes before, stood the man of his dreams.

As in, he had had many dreams about him. In different levels of appropriateness. Together they had fought aliens together, decorated a dream house, survived a zombie apocalypse, faced each other in a fierce baking competition, sailed away on a sunset, and even in one dream he liked to forget, they had been together in a K-pop band and Shiro had fallen on top of him on stage and broken his collar bone.  

Now, if only they had held an actual real-life conversation.

Shiro watched across the food court as Keith, whose name he knew from his name tag, the love of his life who didn’t even know he existed, accepted his change from the cashier and smiled.

Shiro flopped his head down onto the table in front of him, shoving his face straight into his poutine. A calculated error.

 He blindly reached for a napkin while hoping Keith didn’t see him.

He was late returning to work. Again.

x-X-x

“You’re back already? Allura asked, looking at Keith skeptically. “You still have another 20 minutes on your lunch, you know.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m gonna eat in the break room.”

“But you always say the break room smells like cheese.”

“It does. But I just- I couldn’t stay, okay? Like, it was weird.” Keith put down his fries and leaned over the counter to look Allura in the eye. “I just watched a guy flop his face down into the table right into what I think was a thing of poutine. At first I thought he fainted but then he was groping around the table to find a napkin and sat for like a solid minute just holding the napkin to the front of his head and I didn’t know if I should say anything but what if it’s just like, the way he eats fries you know, and that’s weird. Really weird. So I left.”

Allura kept her gaze on Keith, expression unreadable, until she finally said, “you never have normal problems, do you.”

“No,” Keith agreed.

“Go to the break room and eat your fries, Keith. I’m going to need a moment to process this.”

Keith gave her a salute before heading over to the break room.

It smelled like cheese. It always did. It had been deep cleaned so many times by so many people and yet they had never found the cause. It’s just how it is. And honestly, he could deal with it. Sure the smell wasn’t enjoyable but it was contained to the break room and honestly the rest of his job was pretty great. He was used to people teasing him about how he looked like he had just walked out of a Hot Topic every day and now he could honestly say that he did, in fact, just walk out of a Hot Topic. At least on the days he worked, Friday 6-9 and Saturday 9-5. That may have been one of the reasons he had applied to work here, alongside the employee discount and getting first dibs on fingerless gloves.

“You have a problem, Keith. You own too many gloves, Keith,” he could hear Pidge saying in his head.

No, it is Pidge that is wrong. He has an absolutely adequate number of gloves, verging on the edge of too few gloves. He can afford to get a few more.

With his lunch finished and his break over, Keith clocked back in and walked onto the sales floor.

“Oh, Keith,” Allura called him over, “we’re almost out of 5s and I can see the lineup to the Scotiabank from over here. Could you go ask the Shoppers if we could buy some off of them?”

Keith looked out into the mall and sure enough, the Scotiabank line was well out of the bank itself.

“Jesus, what’s happening in there?”

“I don’t want to know. But please, here,” she handed him a $100 bill.

“I’m not going to Shoppers, that lady who works Saturdays is a bag.”

“Keith.”

“She’s not going to give me any change, Allura.”

“Well, can you just ask anywhere? Please? Why not, I don’t know, that new Sanrio Store across the way? The people there seem nice.”

“I know one of them, Allura. I’m not talking to him if I don’t have to.”

Allura gave him an icy stare. “Keith, go over and talk to the nice Sanrio Store people. It’s either that or the bag of a Shoppers lady. Your choice.”

Keith groaned but marched over to the Sanrio Store anyways. What were the chances Lance would be working today?

x-X-x

“Hey, Shiro, you got a little something… a lot something… right, uh, let me find a Kleenex box.”

Shiro stood at the counter of the Sanrio store looking something like a kicked puppy covered in gravy. “I tried to get it all off, Lance.”

“What is it?” Lance dabbed at the gravy stuck in his hair and eyebrows. “Is this gravy? What did you do, get in a food fight?”

“I… fell.”

“What?” Lance’s eyes opened wide. “Are you okay? You fell? Like, fainted? Or slipped or, what?”

“Well, not exactly,” Shiro winced. “I just… happened to have an accident with gravy, okay?”

“But _how_? Shiro, you need to tell me or I won’t ever stop thinking about this. And will certainly not stop asking about this. So it’s mutually beneficial you just tell me now.”

“But it’s embarrassing, okay?” Shiro sighed.

“Cool. Spill it.”

Shiro slumped over the counter. “Okay. So there’s this guy, he’s really cute. And works near here. And like, he is super cute. Really cute. Hottest person I have ever seen. In my life. Ever. And I was eating my lunch, poutine, and I saw him. He was buying lunch too. At the same place I did! It was like fate or something.”

“And he threw poutine at you for staring at him all weird?”

“No!” Shiro gave Lance his best glare. “He didn’t even see me. You see, he was just buying his food. And when he got his change he smiled. And it felt like, I don’t know, a bullet through my heart. It was so beautiful, Lance. And I was overwhelmed and went to put my head on the table but I put it in my poutine instead. And I was so scared he would see me and I figured if my face was in the poutine he wouldn’t be able to recognise me so I just kinda kept it in there for a while.”

There was a moment of silence and Shiro thought maybe Lance would be sympathetic to his pain for once, but that was short lived before his cackling laughter started. “Oh god, Shiro, how long was your head in there for? Did you like, take bites of poutine while sitting with your head in there waiting for him to leave? You were late coming back- seriously- how long?”

“Lance,” Shiro whined, putting his head down on the counter, arms wrapped around it. Couldn’t he just be a disaster in peace?

Shiro listened as Lance attempted to pull himself together, occasionally choking back a few chuckles that still attempted to push through. His revelry was however interrupted by whatever squawking noise just came out of Lance’s mouth.

“You!” He heard Lance shout.

Shiro picked his head up, following where Lance’s finger was pointing, only to see it landing on the very last person he wanted to see right now.

Well, he did want to see him and those tight black skinny jeans _yes_ but it was kind of a bad moment, and his dignity had already taken too much of a hit.

He watched as Keith looked first to lance with a scowl, then to Shiro with startled… confusion?

“What do you want? You know your emo ass isn’t allowed in this place of pastel pink cutesy goodness, right?” Lance jabbed a finger to Keith’s chest to accentuate his point.

“Oh, come on Lance. I just need some change if you guys have any to spare,” Keith growled.

Lance. He called him Lance. He knew Lance. Oh god.

“Nothing to spare your ugly ass,” Lance countered back.

“We have change,” Shiro interrupted.

Keith looked at him. Was really looking at him. Did he still have gravy on him? Or worse, did Keith recognise him?

“We don’t have change,” Lance jabbed back.

“We have change,” Shiro let out a pained smile, “how much do you got?”

Keith handed over the 100, waiting as Shiro went to the safe and exchanged for some 5s and 10s. When he returned he saw that Keith was still looking at him. “Money,” he said eloquently, big smile across his face. Keith’s face only scrunched up in return as he took the bills, counting them carefully.

“Thanks,” he finally said, turning to leave without another work.

Lance, for his part, was staring at the two of them, completely silent. Once Keith was out of earshot he finally asked Shiro, “what was that?”

“What was what?”

“That. Whatever that was.”

“You gotta elaborate, buddy.”

“It’s just,” Lance let out a frustrated sigh, “that was weird. Like, you were looking at him like you were going to shit your pants. And he was looking at you like he had just watched you shit your pants. Did you shit your pants and I just didn’t notice?”

“I did not shit my pants.”

“Then what was up, my man?”

It was Shiro’s turn to sigh. “That’s him.”

“What?”

“That’s him, Lance. The man I am in love with.”

Lance’s mouth hung open, completely speechless. “No, Shiro. No.”

“Why not? How do you know him anyways?”

“Okay, Keith. We went to school together. A few times. We were in the same elementary until his dad died then he moved into a foster home and they moved him into the public school across the lot so I still saw him a lot. We had recess at the same time and he’d always come over to our playground since he said that the Catholic school had a much better playground than the public school so I still saw until he changed foster homes and changed schools again. We had karate together for a while until he swapped homes again and they made him stop. We’re even in the same high school now. The dude, he’s got something against me man. Always gotta one up me. I get 80% on a test? He gets 81. I used to sit every day in the spot in our English room that is right beside the heating vent? He shows up as the new kid one day and sits right there, refuses to move! I finally got up the courage to ask out this girl in my math class and he asks her out on a date the day before I did! Like, seriously!”

Shiro tunes out the rest of Lance’s ramblings. Keith asked a girl on a date. A girl. He is dating a girl.

“They aren’t dating anymore,” Lance interrupted his thoughts.

“What?”

“The girl? She moved to Ukraine so they decided to split.”

“Did I say that out loud?”

“Yes.”

“Oh.”

Shiro looked down. “Still, obviously he’s straight.”

“No, no way. No one who wears a cropped jacket is straight.”

“He works in Hot Topic, he can wear whatever cool stuff he wants.”

“But the cropped part, that is a choice. That a straight person wouldn’t make.”

“He dated a girl, Lance.”

“He’s probably bi.”

“Statistically speaking, probably not,” Shiro sighed.

“Dude, I’ll ask him.”

“No you won’t.”

“Yes I will.”

Shiro looked up to see Lance’s phone was in his hand.

“Lance- no!”

“Lance yes!”

Shiro made to grab Lance’s phone but it was too late. He saw a flash of the screen, a text going out to Keith (with an alien emoji and knife emoji following his name) reading, ‘hey you ever date a guy before?’

 Shiro felt like his world had stopped until a reply showed up on Lance’s phone reading, ‘are you asking me out?’

“Well that was anti climatic,” Shiro sighed.

Another text popped up on Lance’s phone, which he promptly shoved into Shiro’s face.

_Just fyi I only date guys with standards._

x-X-x

Friday night, 8pm. Ryan was finishing up some paperwork in the office before closing, leaving Keith to man the counter alone. Which was honestly more than they even needed. The last customer had wandered in over 20 minutes ago and was still looking at the same two shirts, presumably trying to decide which one to buy. They would hold up one, squint, put it down. Pick up the other, examine it, then put it down. Then they would pick up the next size up of shirt #1, check it over, then do the same with the next size of #2. They had gone through this pattern 4 times already.

Just as Keith was about ready to yell to the customer he would give him a buy one get one deal if he would just _leave_ someone else wandered into the store.

Keith’s eyes widened as he recognised the newest customer. It was the fries guy.

The customer looked up at Keith, seemingly startled. “Keith, hi!” he said, waving for a bit too long.

“Uh, hi there. Fry… guy...” Keith hesitated back. He then mentally punched himself.

The guy’s face fell. “Oh my god, you saw that, didn’t you. I swear I’m not normally like that.”

“Like, putting your whole face in your fries? Did you eat them like that?”

“No! I just, tried to put my head on the table. And missed.”

Keith examined the man. He was beet read and looked ready to wither on the spot. Keith felt pity for him.

“At least it was probably… soft… and warm?”

The man looked at him with a pained look. “It was slimy. I had to pick gravy out of my eyebrows.”

Keith let out an undignified snort and immediately clapped his hand over his mouth. Shit, better not laugh at the guy when he still looked like he is going to die of embarrassment.

“No, it’s okay. It was just a bad moment,” the man sighed.

“Hey, what’s your name?” Keith asked.

“Oh, I’m Shiro!” he said, sticking his hand out.

Keith hesitantly took it and was taken aback by the smile that beamed across Shiro’s face.

Whoa.

He’s actually pretty cute when he isn’t shoving his head in his food.

“So what brings you to Hot Topic? Anything I can help you with?”

Shiro looked startled, like he forgot where he was. “Uhhhhhh,” he said eloquently.

Keith waited patiently.

“I want to… buy…” he looked down at Keith’s hands sitting atop the counter, “fingerless gloves?”

“That sounded like a question,” Keith deadpanned.

“It’s not,” Shiro assured, “I do want them. I just, uh, I don’t know if I can pull them off.”

“If you can’t pull them off then we’ll try a size larger.”

Shiro stared at him like a gaping fish.

“That was a joke, come on.” Keith waved Shire over to a wall where there were many pairs of fingerless gloves on display. “Honestly, fingerless gloves are in the eye of the beholder. If someone likes fingerless gloves, they will see you and think that it looks super cool. If they don’t like fingerless gloves, they will look at you and think you’re a tool. You can’t pull them off or not pull them off, you can only have the confidence to wear them. Here.” He held out one of his favourite pairs to Shiro. “Try them on for size.”

Shiro took them and delicately slipped them on, as if he was afraid he was going to rip them. A pleasant smile went across his face as he flexed his hands, admiring them. “Keith, they’re perfect! And they’re so comfy, wow!”

“Well, buddy, I think you’ll be able to pull them off. In more ways than one,” he smirked and punched Shiro’s shoulder.

Shiro immediately went red.

“Well, I should buy these. I mean, you close soon. So. I will buy. These. With money. Which I have.”

Keith covered his mouth to hide his laugh as he beckoned him over to the register.

A few more minutes of small talk while Keith rang him through and Shiro was out the door. Despite his earlier worries, Keith had to admit that he was pretty fun to talk to. And super cute. Honestly, he wouldn’t mind talking to him again. A small smile went across his face as he stared out the entrance, the man throwing down yet another shirt in the corner of his vision.

x-X-x

“What the _fuck_.”

“Lance, you can’t say that in a Sanrio Store.”

“Sorry, what the fudge?”

“Better.”

Lance scowled at Shiro and grabbed his hand, examining the leather fingerless gloves adorning them. “Shiro, what is this? Are you going through an emo phase? Is this Keith’s fault? Shiro, you can’t go emo on me. If you buy eyeliner I am out of here.”

“No, it’s not Keith’s fault,” Shiro sighed. “And I’m not going through an emo phase. I just… happened to be in Hot Topic last night and thought they looked cool?”

Lance gave him an unconvinced look. “Was Keith working?”

“And what if he was?” Shiro asked meekly.

Lance shook his head, sighed, and dropped Shiro’s hand. “You got it bad man. Like, I thought if you talked to him his personality would scare you off. But this is getting serious.”

“Lance, it was one conversation! Two if you count him getting the change but that was mostly just me blanking and being an idiot.”

“No shit, idiot. I can’t believe you gave away all our small bills and had to stand in that ridiculously long lineup at the bank.”

“Lance!” Shiro whined. “It was for love, okay?”

“Shiro, you had one conversation. Two if you count giving Keith change.”

Their arguing was interrupted by someone power walking into the store.

“You again,” Lance glared.

“Yes, me,” Keith glared back.

“What do you want?”

Keith said nothing but held out a graphing calculator.

“Why do you have my graphing calculator?” Lance asked.

“You left it on my binder and I accidentally took it home. You need it for the homework.”

Lance pushed it back to Keith. “Keep it so I don’t have to do it.”

“You still have to do it, idiot,” Keith pushed it back.

“Do my homework for me.”

“No.”

“You have my graphing calculator though you gotta do my homework now.”

“Lance, I will give you my graphing calculator then you will have to do _my_ homework!”

Shiro looked between the two of them, unsure what to do. Thankfully he was interrupted by a customer going up to the till. Once the customer’s purchase was bagged and paid Shiro cautiously returned to the two of them, whose conversation seemed to have taken a completely different turn.

“Yeah we can shoot for 7:30 but I might be late since I gotta watch over my siblings until mom comes home,” Lance was saying, casually typing something into his phone.

“Sure, sounds good. You can join in whenever you get there,” Keith said back.

“Cool. See you then, buddy.”

“Yeah. And take your damn calculator.”

Keith looked up at Shiro before taking his leave. “By the way, looks good on you,” he gestured to the gloves.

“Thanks,” Shiro breathed, watching his retreating form.

“Gross,” Lance mumbled to Shiro.

“Seriously, are you two friends? Or what?”

“No.”

“You left your graphing calculator on his binder.”

“I was giving him hell.”

“You’re hanging out at 7:30 someday.”

“Not as friends.”

“You’re impossible.”

“I know,” Lance gave him one of his signature winks.  

x-X-x

It had been over a week since Keith had last talked to Shiro. He vaguely wondered if he would be working today, as he walked through the mall doors and down the hallway. Romelle’s birthday was coming up and he’d be damned if he didn’t get her that cute Hello Kitty backpack she’d been eyeing up on the Sanrio Store’s website. If nothing else it wouldn’t be Lance, since it was a weekday and Lance only worked Saturdays. But would Shiro be working on a Tuesday at 4:30? How old even was he? Was he in school?

He turned the corner and walked into the Sanrio Store, and was greeted by the sight of Shiro lifting up a display that probably weighed more than Keith did and moving it over eight feet like it was nothing. Keith managed to shut his jaw before Shiro turned around, his face brightening at the sight of him. “Keith!”

Keith gave a shy wave back, walking towards him. “Hey, Shiro. Wasn’t sure if you worked weekdays.”

“Yeah, classes end at 10:30 on Tuesdays so I work the afternoon shift.”

“University?”

“Yeah, first year,” Shiro smiled shyly.

“What are you studying?”

“Honestly, I don’t know yet. I’m in Arts and Science for now and am hoping to figure it out. Would love to study space though.”

Their conversation was interrupted as a child ran full speed into a shelf beside them. Keith watched as it seemed to topple in slow motion, slow globes falling towards Shiro. Keith acted on instinct, grabbing the child, leaping ahead and pushing Shiro out of the way, flinging the child ahead and out of line of the oncoming disaster.

In the end all of the snow globes broke, but the only injury was a slight cut from some rogue glass on Keith’s arm.

“Keith, you saved me!” Shiro cried, grabbing his bleeding arm. “Here, let me get something!”

“It’s just a small scratch, Shiro.”

“You’re bleeding!”

“It’s already stopped.”

“Let me clean it!”

Keith sighed and followed Shiro to their staffroom as an employee he didn’t recognise glared at them, bringing out a mop and trash bag.

Soon Keith’s arm had been washed and treated with Polysporin with a Hello Kitty Band-Aid placed on top. Honestly, it was overkill.

Keith would never tell anyone how much he loved it.

“Can I take you out for an Orange Julius? For saving me?” Shiro asked as he closed up the first aid kit.

“Shiro, it wasn’t a big deal.”

“I know. But still, can I?”

Keith looked up at him. His eyes were so earnest, so open, there was no way he could say no. “Okay.”

Shiro’s face lightened up immediately. “Great” My shift is done at 5, does that work for you?”

“Yeah, I have no plans. Well, except I need to buy a backpack for my friend. Then I’m all yours.”

“Great! It’s a date!”

Keith watched as Shiro’s face froze up, obviously wondering what the hell he had just said and Keith swore he could _almost_ hear Shiro berating himself through telepathy.

Instead of letting him suffer, Keith decided to simply say back, “It’s a date.”

The level of red that Shiro’s face went let Keith know that plan might have failed.

x-X-x

Shiro kept looking over nervously at Keith. He was poking at merchandise, Hello Kitty backpack slung over one shoulder. His completely black outfit stuck out in stark contrast to the overwhelming amount of pink and pastel in the rest of the store and somehow he couldn’t look more perfect. At some point someone Keith knew wandered into the store and Shiro took that opportunity to quickly purchase an item through his other co-worker and place in in his pocket, all with Keith’s back turned to him. By the time Keith said his goodbye, Shiro was ready to take off his name tag and more importantly, take Keith out for an Orange Julius.

“You ready? Shiro asked, approaching him. The smile that Keith gave him made his heart leap. “Ready.”

They walked into the mall, Keith giving the finger to one of his co-workers as they passed the Hot Topic. Considering the smile on both their faces, Shiro assumed they were both good. They passed the Scotiabank whose line was a normal length today, the EB Games where the manager got arrested for dealing meth, and sped past the Vine Vera without making eye contact. Keith’s pace slowed down as they went past the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Shiro made a note to buy him a caramel apple sometime. As they passed the Ardene Keith actually made Shiro stop, saying, “look, fingerless gloves!”

One pair for each of them later, then finally made it back to the food court.

Shiro left Keith to find a moderately clean table for them as he gave the employee their orders. He missed his order being called three times, too distracted by watching Keith being distracted by the Band-Aid on his arm to notice. Finally once the employee practically shoved a cup in his face he noticed and sheepishly grabbed both to bring to the table.

When he but the cup down Keith looked up and gave him that small smile that did things to him. Sitting across from him, Shiro thought now might be a good a time as any go give him the final part of his thank you gift.

“I actually have something else for you,” Shiro admitted, reaching into his pocket. Keith’s eyebrow raised as Shiro dug around. “Hold on, it’s here. Somewhere. Come on.” He stood up to reach in better and grabbed it with a triumphant “aha!”

Sitting back down he handed the item to Keith, letting it drop from one gloved hand to another.

“Shiro, I love it!” Keith exclaimed, clutching the Hello Kitty phone charm to his chest. Shiro felt his heart swell as Keith dug around for his phone and put the charm in place.

“Good, I’m glad. I was worried it wouldn’t be your style.”

“Shiro, Hello Kitty is adorable. To anyone. Of course it’s my style.”

Shiro didn’t think he could fall any more in love.

They talked and drank and talked some more. All too soon the doors on the stores were beginning to close, leaving only a gap to let the straggling customers out.

“Guess it’s closing time,” Keith sounded almost disappointed.

“Yeah, mall closes at 6 on Tuesdays.”

“I know, I work in the mall too.”

“Right.”

“I mean, technically we can stay as long as we want here. We can get out the locked doors but just can’t get back in.”

The janitor scrubbing down the table next to them gave them an icy glare.

“Or maybe we can move elsewhere?” Shiro asked.

Keith gave a small laugh and nodded. They threw their empty cups into the trash bin.

They walked past the closed doors, talking more and more about more personal topics as the mall cleared out around them. They walked past the carousel ride, smiling at the children riding the tiny unicorns as their parents sighed in defeat, obviously having been there much too long. The watched without helping as the Zellers employee struggled to close the emergency exit in the mall door that had blown open, excited when the mall security finally came to help. They gave each other scandalised looks as a lady finally exited the Dollarama a full 30 minutes after closing, a grumpy employee explaining that no she cannot take the shopping cart out, and that’s what the bar is for, honey. Finally, when their stomachs were growling and the empty halls were beginning to grow eerie, they decided it was time to part.

“Oh wait, I need to buy dog treats,” Keith slapped his head, obviously having forgot.

“Well Shoppers is still open, we don’t have to go just yet,” Shiro suggested.

Keith nodded and together they went through the exit and back in through the Shoppers outside entrance.

They walked through the cosmetics department, giggling at the life-sized cut-out of Justin Bieber standing tall to promote his perfume. They pointed out the bad photoshopping in the various display pictures and mused upon the amount of white people in the pictures decorating the top of the area. Finally when they heard a security check over the intercom they decided to finish their business and leave.

Keith put the dog treats as well as a can of Monster and a Coffee Crisp onto the counter. As the cashier rang through his purchases she asked, “Do you have an Optimum Card?”

“No, I don’t.” Keith turned to Shiro. “Do you?”

“I do,” Shiro asked, surprised.

“Scan your card then, you can have my points.”

“Keith, really? I couldn’t,” Shiro felt his heart swell even more.

“Shiro, I don’t have a card. The points are useless to me. Take them.”

“If you insist.”

Shiro handed his card to the cashier and noticed she looked like she wanted to die. Oops.

After Keith finished paying, he turned to Shiro. “I guess I should get going. And you should, too.”

“I had a really good time, Keith.”

“Me too, Shiro.”

Shiro smiled at Keith, who smiled back at him.

“Guys, this is sweet, but I see the conspiracy theory guy coming and you don’t want to be here when he comes,” the cashier warned, gesturing to a man in the distance.

They both gave their thanks and walked out into the cool night air.

“I’ll see you on Saturday?” Keith asked.

“See you Saturday,” Shiro replied.

x-X-x

Next Saturday quickly turned into every Saturday. They would greet each other before their shifts, take lunch together, and see each other together before going home. Sometimes one would meet the other after work and together they would just walk the mall, chatting. Keith even joked that they should steal a shopping cart from the Safeway and put a single Dollarama bag into the bottom to blend in with the other mall regulars. Soon it was normal to see a dark shadow amongst the pastels of the Sanrio Store, and a colourful splash breaking apart the blacks of the Hot Topic.

They went on a proper date, where they both properly acknowledge it was actually a date and they were romantically interested in each other. This turned into many dates and generally hanging out. Shiro met Keith’s friends, and Keith met Shiro’s. Allura and Lance got along surprisingly well and occasionally one of them would sneak into the other store to hang out too.

Today they sat in the food court, sharing a poutine, just like how it had all began.

“You’re graduating soon, aren’t you?” Shiro asked.

Keith looked up from his fries. “Yeah. What, you expecting me to fail something?”

“No, I wouldn’t, never!” Shiro sputtered.

Keith gave him a playful punch in the shoulder. “I know. But yeah, about a month. Farewell high school, I won’t miss you one bit.”

“What about after?” Shiro asked. Keith could detect a sad note in his voice. “Are you staying here? Are you going away for university? Travelling?”

“Shiro, I already applied for the university here. I was born here, I will live here, and I will die here. I’m not going anywhere.”

“And your job?”

“Figure no point quitting, I’ll still be here.”

Shiro’s face broke into a large smile. “I’m glad you’ll be here still.”

Keith smiled back.

“You looking forward to graduation?”

“Getting out, yeah, but not to sit around and listen to boring speeches.”

“Maybe we should make our own graduation party.”

“Wanna buy us alcohol?”

Shiro gave him a disapproving look.

“What? You’re old enough. Besides, if you don’t the plan is to road trip to Alberta and make Hunk buy some because he’s old enough there.”

Shiro sighed. “Don’t do that. We’ll see.”

“You’ll do it. You can’t resist me.”

Shiro glared down at him.

“Am I wrong though?” Keith gave him his most innocent look.

“No,” Shiro sighed.

They threw out their trash and walked back to their stores, hand in hand. At the junction between the two stores they stopped and Shiro kissed the back of Keith’s hand, still interlocked with his. “I love you, my Hello Kitty.”

“And I love you too, my _Hot_ Topic,” Keith smiled back.

“I love you more than Toonie Tuesdays at the Rainbow.”

“I love you more than that guy at Shoppers likes his Lucky Lines, who for some reason is always in front of me when I try to buy lunch there.”

“I love you more than that guy who pretends to be blind loves groping female employees as he asks them to guide him.”

“I love you more than I love watching the look on parents’ faces as they try to be supportive of their teen’s awful emo years.”

“Awwww.”

They shared a kiss and went back to their respective stores- pastel to pastel, and black to black, with a pair of black leather gloves and a Hello Kitty cellphone charm to bring the two together.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Written for my sister maliciouslycreative <3 
> 
> Based in Canada in the early 2010s because I know nothing about mall culture in America


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